


Father's Day

by 157yrs



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Parent(s), One Shot Collection, Random - Freeform, Skywalker Drama, The Force, imperial princess, moral integrity, sith lord parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-07-25 00:43:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16186532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/157yrs/pseuds/157yrs
Summary: With the destruction of her loved ones and no where else to go; a young Princess Leia is left in her biological father's care indefinitely. A series of one shots. No chronological order.





	1. At the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Mother's Day](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/421946) by 157yrs. 
  * Inspired by [Miscalculated](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/422204) by 157yrs. 



At the Beginning

Leia stared down through the shuttle’s window at the volcanic planet below her. It was red and black and it made something in her chest feel heavy. Somehow she found it fitting. Still in her sleepwear, and grungy from the recent events, it was hard to reconcile the last 48 hours that had permententally changed her life.

“This will be your home now,” the baritone voice of Lord Vader, her father, told her as he began landing procedures for the small craft they were currently flying in.

“The Mustafar system has a harsh environment, but my palace will provide you with sufficive protection. Do not venture out of it,” the dark giant continued. Leia studied him solemnly. He was big, and hulking and impatient. His mask was gruesome and there was an angry buzz around him, although he seemed to be doing his best to suppress it around her.

He would have been scary and bad, but Leia remembered how Vader had saved her from the bad woman that had kidnapped her and how her pappa, the only father she had ever known, had told her to go with Lord Vader and that he would protect her.

Padme or whatever that bad woman was called, would never hurt her again. Leia had watched Vader run his red blazing sword right through the mad woman’s chest right before she had shot Leia. Her right hand ached through the bandages where the blaster had burned her.

The medic who wasn’t really a medic, Jix, had told her that she had been lucky, that the blaster had been set to maximum and if the aim had been more accurate, Leia would have died. It was a terrible thought, but so was the thought that her parents - her true parents, Bail and Breha Organa - were already dead. Neither of them had been lucky when the bad woman had gotten them.

“She wasn’t truly your mother,” Vader spoke as if reading her mind. His voice was numb and somehow Leia knew that he was struggling to speak.

“She was a clone and a madwoman. Padme, your real mother would have never had hurt -”

“-my Papa gave me this right before he died,” Leia interrupted, not wanting to hear anything more about the woman who gave birth to her. Clone or not, the woman with beautiful brown hair, a kind smile, and sad eyes would always now be tied in with the woman who had threatened her parents, and ripped Leia out of her bed by her hair and had hurt a lot of people to try and get what she wanted.

Willing the images away, Leia reached into her pocket and pulled out an old worn pendant. Somehow she knew that it had something to do with Padme and Leia didn’t want it. Lord Vader - her father, she had to remind herself again - didn’t seem to want it either as he recoiled once he saw it.

After a moment of awkward silence, he turned away from her, just as the shuttle landed.

“Keep it. Bail Organa wanted you to have it,” he gritted out before storming out of the shuttle.

Leia was left with no choice but to follow him.

 

…


	2. Mimban

Mimban

 

Leia ran through the swamps, using the deep coverage of fog to stay out of the miner’s line of fire. Over a log she jumped, leaning to the right a blaster fire went zipping by her ear. Nimbly she ran over the roots and overgrown foliage that covered the area around her.

“Hurry Han,” Leia urged to the infantryman behind her.

“Who do you think you are- oomph!” Han gasped as he ran straight into the a thick gnarled root that had grown a little over a meter off the ground. Leia had easily ducked under it, but with an eerie white look to the bark, Han had obviously not seen. Frowning, Leia impatiently double backed and peered down at him.

‘He’s not Jix,’ Leia had to remind herself, knowing that he would have had no problem keeping up with the physical demand that was needed to cross the terrain. Tears flooded the nine year old’s eyes unexpectedly. Her instructor’s death was still fresh in her mind .Guilt addled her when she thought of how he had cautioned her with approaching the lone Imperial Commander in the deserted outpost. If only she had listened. Now Jixton was dead and if she didn’t hurry, Rillao would die too.

“Vos gave us three hours to retrieve the hyperbaid,” Leia told her companion and reached down to offer him her hand. Han only frowned.

“You really think he’s going to let you and your nanny go?” he scoffed. Leia openly scowled.

“She’s not my nanny!”

At that moment the blaster fire aimed at them intensified. Leia squeaked when Han yanked her down.

“You’re too trusting. This whole mess started when you trusted that Vos was a legitimate officer,” Han shouted at her.

“I thought he was!” Leia shouted as the two slowly began to crawl away from the fire.

“You’re a fool to go back. Forget the Firrerreo! Leave while you still can!”

Ignoring Han. Leia looked around desperately for an out. Somehow she knew that the miners were gaining and that they only had a few more minutes.

“Give me your blaster!” Leia shouted.

“What!? No! I only have one shot left.” Han resisted. Leia rolled her eyes and reached out, intent to take it. To her surprise, the blaster flew right of of Han’s belt and into her hand.

“What the hell!?” Han shouted. Unfortunately that last question was loud enough to give away their position as a lone miner came over to investigate. The shock at the strange phenomena with the blaster was shoved aside as Leia’s survival lessons kicked in.

“Duck!” she shouted before shooting the miner square in the head. Leia felt smug when the miner fell over lifeless.

“Damn kid…”

More blaster fire forced them to move.

“Hurry, get his weapons,” Leia urged. Han didn’t need to be told twice. Grabbing two for himself, Leia made sure that her companion was looking away before slipping an unusually small blaster in to her vest.

She had never killed anyone for the sole intention of murder before, vowing never to be like her insane clone mother, Padme, but today was a day of reckoning. Vos would die for hurting her loved ones.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Han urged. Returning the blaster fire that was directed at them, Han’s shots bought her some coverage.

“Thank you,” she told him and scrambled off towards the abandoned outpost. With adrenaline pumping in her veins, the nine year old finished her trek back rather quickly. Though distracted by Rillao’s fate, Leia couldn’t help but note that the blaster fire had ceased by the time of her arrival. Han had done it. The Miners were dead. He was going to be alright. She just knew it.

Sagging in relief, Leia’s eyes scanned the ratted tents and dirty terminals around her. A few dismantled Imperial Walkers served as a barricade against invaders, but aside from the wookie hostage that was tranquilized and chained to the inner pillar, there was no sign of life. Suddenly a blaster clicked next to her ear.

“Wow, I’m impressed. You made it back in record time,”  Dryden Vos drawled before reaching over and snatching the small pack that held the hyperbaid off of her back. Signaling to his companion behind him, a human female with brown hair came forward with a blaster held at Rallao’s head.

Leia gritted her teeth at what she saw.

Her friend was bleeding from the nose and both of her eyes had been blackened. Her clothes were dirty and torn and their was true fear emanating from the healer, though she was wise enough not to say anything. They had hurt her. Leia’s hand slowly moved to slide into her vest where the small blaster was hidden.

“Hold it there, sweetie.” Vos ordered. Leia’s nostrils flared as a deep storm of resentment rose up in within her.

“You have what you wanted, now let her go,” she snarled but Vos wasn’t impressed by her anger.

“You’re in no position to bargain,” he reminded her and held up the pack. Smiling, his eyes took on a hungry gaze. Quite suddenly he reached out and ran one of his vile hands down her side in an overly familiar gesture. Thanks to Rillao’s teaching, Leia knew the gesture meant and it disgusted her.

“Consider yourself fortunate that I’ve decided to take you with me. You’re pretty enough,” he murmured.

Snarling an Alderaanian curse, Leia saw red as she pushed away from him and pulled out her blaster. Dryden Vos was going to die. The shot that sounded off however, wasn’t from her and in shock, Leia dropped her own weapon.

“That’s quite enough,” he told her simply, but his eyes were wide with the promise of violence. Leia however, didn’t really care.

“No,” she whimpered as a numbing shock and grief overcame her when Rillao collapsed suddenly to the ground. The brunette that had been holding her hostage looked dumbfounded and Leia realized belatedly that she hadn’t been to the one to shoot her friend. It had been Vos. Swallowing thickly, the fight left Leia as quickly as it had risen. Defeatedly she slipped to the ground as Vos once again turned his blaster to her.

“You have no idea what will come after you if you hurt me,” she told him miserably and there was some satisfaction in knowing that her father would cut this crime lord down with his red lightsaber once he found him. Smiling at the thought, Leia missed Vos’s frown.

“That’s some talk for a little nobody. Who do you think you are?” he mocked and raised his weapon. Another blast rang out.

Cringing, Leia rolled herself into a tight ball. The sound of a body collapsing, however, had her slowly relaxing. Looking down, she startled when she saw Vos lying dead beside her. Squeaking, the nine year old scrambled away from him as her mind quickly tried to understand who had shot him.

“Qi’ra wait!” Han shouted. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of the infantryman before he chased the brunette back into the swamp. Realizing he had saved her, Leia quickly rose to her feet and ran over to Rillao’s crumbled form. She knew she was too late before she even got there.

“I’m sorry,” Leia sobbed miserably as she knelt down to hover over her friend and cradle her head.

“I’m sorry Rillao,’ she murmured again and began to rock the woman back and forward in her grief. Her mentor and guide, healer and teacher was gone. Just like Jixton.

A gush of wind accompanied that thought and Leia looked up to watch an Imperial Star Destroyer enter the lower atmosphere. The heavy sensation in her chest was a familiar in that Leia had come to associate with her father. He had found her.

Choosing to stay by her fallen friend, Leia waited some time before her father’s ground troops landed and assembled in the clearing. Normally the stormtroopers would have annoyed her, she had done everything in her power to escape Mustafar and everything that was Imperial, but with Jixton and now Rillao gone, it didn’t matter.

Not even the sound of Vader’s respiratory breathing could shake Leia from her grief.

“Running away?” her father growled menacingly and Leia knew that he was angry. The black energy he was emitting practically coiled around him.

“No,” Leia told him honestly and when she looked up at her father’s mask, something in her tear stained expression quieted his anger. Vader then took note of their surroundings. Stormtroopers were setting up their own perimeter while a small team flooded into the tents. At least the wookie would be freed.

“What happened? Where’s Jixton?” Vader demanded.

“I’m done running,” Leia told her father and she was honest in her exhaustion and sadness. Somehow her father sensed what she wasn’t saying and decided to let the matter drop. Waving a hand, he signaled for a medical team that promptly rushed forward and swarmed her. Despite all the noise and bustle, Leia was acutely aware of Han when he re-entered the clearing alone.

“Hey kid-whoah!” he shouted in alarm and instantly raised his hands in surrender when at least ten different stormtroopers raised their blasters at him. Gasping, Leia quickly jumped up and raced over to her friend, ignoring her father’s call. There’s was no way she was going to let them hurt Han. Enough people had died today because of her.

“Stop!” she cried and placed herself directly in front of her companion. Vader instantly ordered his troops to stand down before stalking over to her. He was angry again.

“Oh shavit!” Han cursed under his breath, when the sith lord approached. Though he was a lowly infantryman, even he knew who Lord Vader was.

“What do you think you’re doing?” her father snarled and moved to grab Leia’s arm. She tried to resist but to her horror, Han in all of his stupidity, grabbed Leia first and tried to shuffle her behind him.

“Don’t hurt her, she’s just a kid,” he swallowed and his fear was thick in the air. Knowing what was coming next, Leia cringed when her father grabbed Han by his throat. He was so angry and Leia knew it was because Han had tried to keep her from him.

“No stop! Please! He was only protecting me!” she begged and began to pound her small fists on Vader’s arm. Han wriggled helplessly in the menacing grip, trying everything he could to escape but it was in vain.

“Please Father, stop! This man saved my life,” and Vader finally, finally, relented. Gasping desperately for air, Han was thrown unceremoniously onto his rear where he winced and rubbed his neck slowly. A moment later, Vader called over another officer who shuffled Han over to where the wookie was being held.

Leia could hear the officer identifying Han by name and rank and further stating that he was a deserter. Vader waited until everyone moved away before he crossed his arms impatiently and gestured to Leia.

“Explain,” he ordered and Leia was left with no choice but to explain the painful events of her stealing the shuttle and running away with Rillao and Jixton chasing after them. Vader listened silently with clenched fists when she told him how he had warned them via com before firing on their vessel and the crash landing on Mimban that had followed. She did her best to skim over Han’s desertion and Vos capturing him; the last thing Han needed was Vader’s scrutiny. Thankfully, the apparent leader of the Crimson Dawn syndicate held most of Vader’s attention.

“You said his name was Dryden Vos,” Vader rumbled and Leia nodded miserably. Thankfully by that time her father’s anger was redirected towards the criminal ring that the wicked Vos had been running. By the end of her story, her father’s mood towards her had mellowed considerably.

“You’ve had a long day Leia. Come. You can rest in the shuttle,” he told her, and the hand that he rested on shoulder was surprisingly gentle. As they headed towards makeshift landing pad, the wookie once more growled out. Both Vader and Leia’s attention was drawn to him and Han Solo standing beside him.

“Please don’t hurt them Father,” Leia implored and she could just picture her father flexing his fists as his irritation threatened to grow.

“He’s my friend, and he saved my life,” she told him softly.

‘He’s a good person. He just needs the opportunity to prove it’ she added mentally to herself.

“Perhaps,” her father agreed but to what Leia didn’t know.

She was safely aboard the Star Destroyer and asleep when Vader finally ordered Han Solo and the wookie’s transport off world.


	3. Befitting

Befitting

 

Leia clutched her eyes tightly and used all of her body weight to keep the closet door closed. Thank the skies, the senatorial apartment that her father owned was Pre- Clone War era and so the closet’s antiquated door design was not a sliding one. Otherwise Threepio and Artoo would have already forced their way inside. It was terribly small and dark inside and Leia couldn’t help but note the irony.

It was the first time she had ever been to Coruscant, the brightest center of the galaxy and crown jewel of the Empire, and she had been reduced to the confines of a closet.

“Your Highness, come out of there immediately! This behavior is unbefitting for a princess!” Threepio chided and rapped on the door. Leia rolled her eyes. Like that was going to get her out. If she had to hear that saying one more time during the protocol droid’s etiquette lessons, she was going to go mad.

A series of whistles and chirps from Artoo followed and Leia understood just enough binary to know that he was warning her that Hethir was not far behind. Artoo punctuated this with a ramming of the door. A moment later Hethir’s nasty voice followed as he ordered the droids away from the door. If they were smart, they would leave he room.

“Open the door milay,” the Firrerreo growled and Leia’s heart quickened when she sensed his violent anger. She could just picture him on the other side of the door, arms crossed, golden hair a blaze and his tanned face wrinkled with lines of anger and disapproval. Leia’s hands were clammy with sweat as she gripped the cool cilinder of the darksider adept’s lightsaber. She was thankful for the foresight to grab it before she dared this little excursion. Unlike his late wife, Rillao, Hethir used a lightsaber and had a terrible temper that accompanied it and though he had never purposely - there had been ‘accidents’ during training - used it on her; he had once used his fists and that had been more than enough of an experience than Leia ever wanted to repeat.

“You little worm,” he sneered through the door. He was always exceptionally cruel to Leia. Their paths had rarely crossed when Rillao had still been alive but after her governess’s passing, Vader had appointed Hethir as one of her new teachers. Leia got the distinctive feeling that he hated her for his wife’s death. He certainly went out of his way to make Leia miserable. Unfortunately, Hethir was also one of her father’s personal favorites and highest ranking agents, so the chances of him being disposed of were fairly slim.

“If you don’t open this door right now,” the Firrerreo started in a deceptively calm voice. A moment of silence followed before a harsh slam of the durasteel door dented in right above Leia’s head and she couldn’t help but gasp. He had punched the door very hard. Her imagination ignited terrible images in her head and she could almost feel the pain that would surely follow once Hethir managed to open the door. As if sensing her thoughts, Hethir bit out,

“Yes that’s right, be afraid because when I get my hands on you -” his voice broke off suddenly while simultaneously the familiar energy that was her father entered the room. Leia could vaguely hear his rhythmic breathing.

‘I could sense you fear,’ she could almost hear him saying.

“Leave us,”Is what Leia could hear him say outloud. She wanted to relax when she felt the Firrerreo leave, but she couldn’t get a read on her father’s mood and that made her even more nervous. Leia momentarily debated staying in the closet before deciding her odds were stacked against her and resignedly opened the closet door. Her freshly shaved head was immediately sensitive to the cooler atmosphere of the adjoining room.

Her father breathed in and out a couple of cycles and Leia winced as she was blasted with his immediate anger and overwhelming shock from the sight of her.

“What have you done to yourself?” Vader demanded and his booming words were over pronounced as he stormed over to her. Leia had lived with the Sith Lord for over six years without him laying a finger on her, but she couldn’t help but flinch when her father took a hold of her chin. His hand was gentle however, as he moved her face first left and then right as he studied the short brown fuzz that served as the remnants of her hair.

Leia could feel his shock and anger slowly melt into sadness and Leia could well imagine the image of his deceased wife, Padme with her long tresses of brown locks, in his mind. Willing the thought away from her own mind, Leia shook her head.

“I’ve freed myself,” she told Vader stubbornly and subconsciously gripped Hethir’s lightsaber tighter in her hand to keep from scratching awkwardly at her nearly bald scalp.

Vader merely crossed his arms impatiently and Leia felt the need to explain herself.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to spend countless hours in etiquette and be micromanaged in having to learn how to talk, and walk, and eat and sit and dress and then being corrected for everything small thing?” She asked in a hysterically high pitched voice.

“None of that is me! I’m being forced to conform to this fake - fakeness!” she shouted, huffing at her own choice of lame wording.

“So you shaved your head to protest your etiquette lessons?” her father asked sarcastically and with a thin layer of incredulity. Leia frowned.

“No - I shaved my head because I was tired of all those hairstyles Threepio was making me wear. I shouldn’t have to spend hours sitting at a vanity while my hair is tugged and twisted this way and that only to make myself look like something I’m not.” By the end of her explanation, Leia found herself waiving the lightsaber around and pointing it at her father like it was an extra finger. Feeling foolish, she offered it to the Sith Lord with a sigh.

“You’re mother always wore her hair -” Leia flinched at his choice of an argument and thrust the lightsaber’s cylinder closer to him.

“-just take it,” she urged, firmly shutting down that conversation. Every time Vader brought up her mother, he wasn’t talking about Breha Organa. No, he was talking about that other woman and it was hard for Leia not to experience that strong resentment that she knew hurt her father whenever he sensed it. For some inexplicable reason, the man was determine for Leia to reconcile and accept a dead woman that was her birth mother.

It was never going to happen.

Finally, Vader snatched the lightsaber from Leia’s hand. She could sense his quiet loss transform into a familiar emotion of irritation. She always seemed to irritate him.

“You are being presented to the Emperor of the Galaxy in two days. Thanks to your little stunt on Dathomir, he’s now aware of your existence; and no daughter of mine is going to introduce herself to him without any grace!” he all but sneered. Leia frowned and though she was secretly hurt at her father’s wording, she forced herself to step forward.

“My hair doesn’t give me grace. It’s what’s on the inside that matters,” Leia reminded him and though she believed the words with all of her heart, she couldn’t help but wince at how young and naive she sounded. Vader sneered in response.

“A princess without hair is unacceptable!”

“Will you stop calling me that!” Leia shouted. She was tired of the theatrics. Unfortunately for her, Vader was as stubborn as calling Leia a princess just as much as she refused to forgive her birth mother. For her father it was simple, the sky was blue, human blood was red, and Leia was a princess - ‘royalty by birth’ - he called her.

“I stopped being a princess the day Alderaan elected new royal officials! No wait - I stopped being a princess the day I watched Breha, Bail, and Leia Organa’s funeral!” she shouted, and swallowed back the terrible memory of the nameless girl with her face that had been buried in Leia’s stead to satisfy the public’s suspicion of her disappearance.

“Princess Leia, have you come out of the closet - oh my! Lord Vader!” Threepio interrupted as he came tottering back into the room. Leia rolled her eyes as the moment, along with her anger was lost with the droid’s arrival.

“Oh my! Princess Leia! Your hair!” the droid exclaimed.

“Leave,” Vader ordered tersely, effectively cutting the droid’s lamentations off.

“Very well. Please excuse me,” the golden droid offered before muttering woes under his breath and leaving. Thankfully the droid’s countenance cooled Vader’s temper as well.

“I know it may not seem like it now, but you are a princess. The Empire is your inheritance,” her father told her before turning to the wall to wall glass panel that served as a giant window and gesturing out.

“Someday all of this will be yours. Your decisions and beliefs will echo throughout the galaxy.”

“Like a virus,” Leia quipped sarcastically and then subdued herself when her father turned sharply back towards her.

“You will be the law,” he corrected.

“Power is balanced with great responsibility,” Leia recited the words Bail Organa had once taught her when she had been small. Vader had no idea where the words originated from but he agreed with them.

“Responsibility and sacrifice; it starts with you meeting the emperor,” he told her solemnly. Leia crossed her arms.

“How can I rule if I start off pretending to be something I’m not?” she demanded, thinking of all those ridiculously stuffy dresses and ceremonial hairdos that had been forced on her.

“I will be there to help you,” Vader told her and though Leia wanted nothing more than give a scathing retort back, she realized that her father was giving her a rare glimpse of his sincerity and vulnerability. It was as close as he would probably ever come to saying that she was personally important to him.

“Father I -”

“Lord Vader, Princess Leia! I have found the perfect solution!” See-Threepio quipped as he once again returned, this time with a much chipper step.  Leia rolled her eyes at the droid while Vader ignored him entirely.

“You were born a princess.” Vader promised before catching a glimpse of Threepio. Whatever the droid was carrying sent her father into an instant state of satisfaction. Leia groaned when she realized what it was.

“There, it’s just perfect!” Threepio gushed and Leia internally cursed at the droids smugness when he placed the accursed thing on her head. Her father’s accompanied humor made the whole situation that much worse.

“Remember child, it’s ‘what’s on the inside that matters.’”

Leia stomped her feet.

“I’m not wearing this! You can’t make me! It’s nothing but a lie!” she shouted.

Vader’s voice was exasperated when he finally responded.

“Leia, it’s just a wig.”


	4. Force Bond

Force Bond

 

_Leia watched in horror as the two red blasts shot out of the weapon’s barrel. They seemed to hover there for a moment in front of Bail Organa. Like Breha Organa had been, he was frozen as he stared down his death._

_‘Move! Move out of the way!’ she wanted to say; but what came out of her mouth was,_

_“Nooo!”_

_Reflexively her little legs stretched out, turning towards her Papa. If only she could get to him before it was too late. Unfortunately she was moving too slow. It was with agony as she watched one of the red balls of energy collide with Bails’ chest. The first one hit him right in the heart, colliding and then erupting into him. The second one went streaming by his face as his body began to fall, but it didn’t matter. The damage had been done._

_Screaming incoherently, Leia forced time to speed up and then she was moving closer to her Papa’s prone form._

_Too late, she didn’t see the blaster raise again, only this time it was directed at her._

_Terrible pain and a hard force ignited in Leia’s left hand. Crying out in terror and pain, the four year old was forced off of her feet and into the air before the wind was knocked out of her when her back hit the hard durasteel._

_“She’ll live,” a distant voice explained but the only thing Leia could focus on was Padme’s cold face as she stared down disapprovingly at Leia. She was supposed to be beautiful but this woman never smiled. Her hair was coiled tightly in seven tiny buns that formed a circle around her head; and one of her eyes was glossed over in white, scarred from a previous battle._

_“I told you to stay down,” the woman told Leia and the four year old could only curl in on herself and wonder for the hundredth time how this woman could be her real mother. This horrible woman so full of hate and violence, who snuck into Alderaan’s palace and killed Breha Organa and forced Leia through pain to leave the only home she had ever known._

_“Why are you doing this?” Leia begged as she cradled her hand but Padme ignored her._

_“Now what? With the Organa’s dead, we’ll never get funding for our cell,” the woman’s companion complained but Leia wasn’t looking at him._

_“According to that bounty hunter, that Inquisitor Malorum would pay a high price for her,” Padme mused as she studied Leia._

_But then things began to blend together and all Leia could focus on was her Papa’s breathing as it became shallow and his pain began to ebb away. More people showed up and there was blaster fire and the sound of burnt flesh. The dark behemoth of a demon in a terrifying mask showed up with a red sword and sliced the bad people down; but Leia didn’t care. All that mattered was holding her Papa’s hand with her good one and trying to be brave._

_“You’re dying Papa,” Leia choked out and Bail smiled through his pain and gently ran his hands through Leia’s hair. The moment was ruined by the sound of pleading and creams and both Bail and Leia watched in stunned silence as the dark man leading the stormtroopers grabbed a man by his throat before launching him out of the ship's airlock._

_“Imperials are on the ship,” Leia told her Papa fearfully, but Bail only gripped her hand harder._

_“Vader. When I’m gone you must go to Vader.” Leia was stunned by her Papa’s words. She could tell he was afraid but determined._

_“Why would I do that? He’s awful, he kills people,” Leia protested and watched silently as Bail reached into his burned vest and pulled out a some kind of a necklace. It was pendant carved of wood._

_“He won’t hurt you. Leia, he is your birth father,” Bail explained though his voice was choked. Blinking in shock, Leia stared down at the pendant and even though she shouldn’t have, she let go of her Papa’s hand. Then he was dead and Lord Vader was standing over her, only this time he didn’t stop and let the stormtroopers ‘save’ her. There was no introductions or explanation. She was never taken to a Jixton to be healed, and the DNA scanner had never been used on her._

_No, this time Vader raised his red laser sword over her head and swung down…_

Leia shot up in bed with a blood curdling scream as she looked around the room. Panicking, the dark and unfamiliar surroundings had her heart beating fast and her skin covered in sweat.

The silhouette of a light turned on beyond her door and a moment later, the Firrerreo, Rillao came rushing into the room. Leia blinked through her tears when the bedroom light came on and then she remembered that she was in Vader’s palace on the fiery planet called Mustafar. Breathing heavily, Leia willed the image of her father and his lightsaber away. It had just been a dream, or rather that last part. Vader had never hurt her.

“Leia what is it? Are you hurt?” Rillao demanded and reached a gentle hand out to touch Leia’s shoulder. The four year old instinctively flinched, remembering how Padme had grabbed her shoulder with a deceptive softness, only to tightened her grip and twist when she wanted Leia to do something that little girl objected to. Rillao hesitantly withdrew.

Hiccupping softly, Leia buried her head on her arms and cried.

“I want my Mama and Papa,” the little girl wailed. Though she wasn’t watching she could almost imagine Rillao frowning and glancing fearfully at the door. She knew her father didn’t like it when she called Bail and Breha her parents.

“Where’s Lord Vader? He came back last night didn’t he?” Leia demanded angrily. Other than her, Vader was the only one still alive from that terrible night. It was easy to place blame on everything she had lost and everything that she had been taken from when that person had a name and a face, or rather a mask in his case.

“What makes you say that?” Rillao murmured and hesitantly drew her arms around Leia. The four year old wanted to fight but after reliving her worst nightmare, there was no strength left in her body to resist.

“I saw his shuttle in the hangar bay… It’s been two weeks since I’ve come here. Why hasn’t he come to see me?” Leia asked resentfully. The Firrerreo hesitated for a moment, and Leia took the time to study how pretty her new governess was. With two toned hair of black and silver as well as a thin but sharply angled body, Rillao’s appearance reminded Leia of one of the Alderaanian paintings in the royal city’s library depicting a heroine of old.

“Lord Vader has a very demanding schedule. His duties require him to leave the base often,” the woman explained logically.

“So? He’s here now isn’t he?” Leia pointed out, silently adding that he still hadn’t come to see her.

“Lord Vader has retired to his personal wing with instruction that he is not to be disturbed under any circumstances,” Rillao explained and tried to stroke Leia’s hair in a soothing mattered. The gesture however, reminded Leia too much of her Papa in his dying moments and she shrugged the woman off.

“He wants to be alone?” Leia asked but it seemed the Ferrero was done answering questions as she slowly shuffled Leia back into lying down. Though she knew the woman was trying to be calming, Leia couldn’t help but focus on her pain and fear.

“I can’t believe that man is my father. He’s a monster just like Padme was,” Leia sniffed.

“That woman that hurt you was a mad clone. Your birth mother died some time ago,” Rillao’s voice was sharp as she corrected Leia. The four year old only rolled her eyes in response. She knew Vader had instructed her to say that. The Firrerreo hadn’t even been there. She hadn't seen what Leia had seen or known the things that Leia had felt.

Shuffling under her bed coverings, Leia waited in stubborn silence until Rillao withdrew.

Several minutes later, when she was satisfied that there was no one in the immediate facility, Leia decided to get up. She couldn’t see herself falling into a dreamless sleep anytime soon after that last nightmare. Furthermore, she had a strong urge to explore. Without Rillao or Jixton to accompany her, Leia was forbidden to leave her quarters.

Though she had made no previous attempt to explore, something told Leia that now was the perfect time to leave. Glancing down the dark corridors, Leia suppressed a shiver at the dark durasteel walls and pristine grey tiles of the floor. For such a big place, her father’s base was surprisingly bare.

Doing her best to keep to the shadows, Leia began to explore her corridor and the rooms closest to her quarters. She was incredibly disappointed when she found most of them to be maintenance closets and storage rooms. While clean and well organized there wasn’t anything remotely interesting in the few crates that she opened.

Discouraged, the four year old was just about to return to her room when a vague pulsing noise drew her attention to the far door of the corridor. Leia knew that it didn’t lead to main hall, as that door was in opposite direction and one she had used frequently with her chaperones.

The pulsing was odd and when she concentrated on it, Leia found that she couldn’t ignore it. Drawing closer to the door, she only hesitated a moment before passing through it. Inside, she was slightly deflated to find another corridor, almost identical to hers. The pulsing noise had slowly become a pulsing sensation at that point and Leia was helpless as she followed it.

Squinting into the darkness, she had no explanation as to how she knew where she was going, as there were no lights whatsoever being used and the area was pitch black. It would have been creepy but the pulsing sensation beckoned Leia forward. As she continued, the pulsing sensation became somewhat familiar. Leia didn’t like how heavy and cold it felt but whatever it was, she was sure that she had felt before.

Sucking in a deep breath, Leia faltered outside one of the many identical doors in the dark corridor. Moevement to her left had her hurriedly ducking back into the shadows when a strange hovering, circular droid along with a mouse droid rolled down the corridor from the opposite direction. Miraculously, they didn’t see her.

Leia guessed that the dark corridor had its own main entrance on the far end and vowed to herself that she would explore it later. Whatever was beyond that door had her current interests, and as soon as the two droids opened and entered the room beyond it, Leia made her move.

Scampering over to where the two droids had been only seconds before, the four year old managed to slip inside undetected. Gulping, Leia immediately noticed how cooler the ‘room’ felt, though it was more of a long hallway. The two droids that she had followed in had not stopped and were well on their way to the inside structure but Leia barely paid them any mind.

The lights inside had a dim white glow to them and there was nothing of interest as the walls were completely bare and sterile. Gulping at the odd sensation in the air, Leia tried to focus on the pulsing feeling that she had sensed before.

Reaching out, she let the sensation guide her down the hallway. There was a dark hole that served as an exit at the other end of the hall and that alone should have repelled Leia away. However, there was a strange sequence of ticking sounds and flashes of light that only piqued the young girl’s interest and drew her in.

Honing in on the pulsing sensation, Leia found it much louder than before. She hesitated only briefly when she reached the end of the hallway before she took a breath and forced herself forward.

Inside, Leia felt herself clam up as the odd pulsing sensation suddenly became louder and much more painful and harsh. It was nasty and foul and where she had been subconsciously tugging on it, it now took a hold of her and sunk something in. Then it pulled. Overwhelmed by the feeling, Leia barely process the dark room before her.

Circular in shape, the tiles of the floor dropped off, not quite meeting the wall with a river of lava flowing below. Around her, machines hummed and ticked as strange hooks and tools hung in hoards from the ceiling like stalactites in a cave. In the center of the room, a lone bacta tank stood glowing eerily with a body inside. Several droids swirled about carrying out various tasks.

‘No,’ A clear voice suddenly growled.

Suddenly that pulsing sensation commanded and jerked roughly at Leia and in her confusion she couldn’t help but cry out in startelement at the sensation while her eyes took in the deformed creature inside. With short, cauterized stumps that Leia realized were supposed to be limbs, the figure suddenly jolted as if it was awake.

‘Get out! Get out!’ the voice raged.

Glowing gold eyes of malice suddenly peered out through the bubble of air as the hairless creature with burning red skinned opens its eyes and stared at her. Worse, it seemed to recognize her. Leia gasped at the avalanche of sudden pain and loathing that assaulted her then. It was of the likes she had never felt. Then she was seized by some invisible force lifted into the air.

‘I SAID GET OUT!’

Leia screamed when she was suddenly flung from the room and down the long hallway. It happened so quickly, she could only catch a few flashes of movement before she collided painfully with durasteel door that she had snuck through only minutes before.

A howl of rage and apologies followed but it was too much for the little girl. Silently she slipped into unconsciousness.

Leia woke the next day to find herself in her own bed with no memory of how she had returned.

“You didn’t see me leave my rooms?” Leia pressed. Rillao frowned at her, but only shook her head.

“No. I stayed with you all night. I was worried that you would have another nightmare - what are you doing?” Rillao cut herself off as she watched Leia raise her nightdress up to her head.

“Do I have any bruises?” Leia asked impatiently as she twisted around and showed the Firrerreo her bare back.

“What are you talking about Leia? There’s nothing there,” Rillao told her, now more confused than ever. Frowning, Leia thought back to the pain she had felt when she had been thrown into the door. It had all been so real.

“There has to be a mark,” she insisted but Rillao promised that there was nothing there and somehow Leia knew that she was telling the truth.

“I think you had another nightmare,” the woman offered at length. Leia frowned and tentatively reached out to see if she could find that pulsing sensation. Hissing, she instantly withdrew when she felt it overwhelm her senses, bombarding her this time with sorrow and wordless apologies.

Did that mean that the thing with yellow eyes in the bacta tank was real? Had her dream been real?

Shutting down that mental avenue, Leia shook her head.

“... is it breakfast time? I’m starving?” she asked with forced cheer, chalking up the odd pulsing sensation to her bad dreams. If she ignored it, then surely it would go away.

Of course it never quite did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple things:
> 
> 1\. Leia's nightmare in the first part did actually happen to her. And evil/insane clone of Padme kidnapped Leia and held her as a hostage. It might not have been obvious but Leia was kidnapped so that the clone could blackmail the Organa's into providing funding so that a new radical rebel cell could be made. Somehow Vader got mixed up in it all and arrived at the very end.
> 
> 2\. To make this whole story believable, I needed Vader to be willing to mention Padme. Even though in canon he did his best to reject his former life and the subject of his wife was a taboo, I imagine that if he had Leia and his daughter hated the idea of her mother, he would do everything in his power to change her mind. On Leia's end, I needed a reason for her not to blame Vader for her loved ones deaths and be willing to accept him (more or less) as her father and guardian. In canon she would have rejected him on principal; but if she was young enough, left without any other options, and if Bail Organa had told her to, she would have stayed with Vader. Or at least, this is what I'm using as a plot bunny for this story.
> 
> 3\. That second part involving Leia's adventure WAS another dream but a force induced one. That 'pulsing' was her father's presence and though he reacted badly by attacking her mind, a connection was made, though Leia clearly doesn't understand it.


	5. Over Exposure

Over Exposure

 

She couldn’t understand what had happened. One moment Leia was marching up the steps to the Imperial Palace, with Hathir and his droid security team. She had been on Coruscant for nearly ten months and in that time after her first initial introduction to the Emperor, she had met with him three additional times.

Her father hadn’t liked it, but it was a direct command from his master and so he could not object. The meetings themselves were only an hour or so at most and ranged from the Emperor inquiring her opinion of politics to testing her knowledge in academics. Once Leia had even demonstrated her skills with a blaster and staff to him. She wasn’t sure what the old man thought of her, but Leia did her best to stand on protocol and be polite, as her father had intently stressed.

She was due for her fifth meeting when on the steps of the palace, a reporter had approached her.

“Miss Leia!” a twi'lek reporter called and stepped into her path. Blinking, Leia frowned at the unusual development. Her meetings with the emperor were quite private and with the exception of a few misadventures, Vader had done his best to keep Leia out of the public’s eye. Though she frequented the palace enough now to know some of the everyday faces, she wouldn’t have expected to garnish any attention from the media.

“Step aside,” Hethir growled, suddenly materializing next to Leia. The ten year old shivered at the Firrerreo’s low voice and ire that she knew would come but the blue twi'lek was obvious as he tried to side step around the man.

“It’ll only take a second,” the reporter insisted. Beside him, a cam droid tried to follow but the security droids blocking it’s attempt.

“Are you aware of the striking resemblance you bare to the Alderaan’s former royal family’s Princess Leia? An inside source says that you and the former princess are of the same age,” the reporter pushed. Leia blinked in surprise as the twi’lek hurriedly pulled out a datapad. On the screen Leia’s current face was frozen and next to it was an old image of her as a young girl on Alderaan. Leia didn’t remember when the picture had been taken but she stared longing at her Mama and Papa who were holding her hands in the image.

“Where - where did you get this?” Leia murmured and took a hold of the datapad.

“Are you aware that the late Bail and Breha Organa were rumored to have affiliated ties to the underground rebel movement?” the reporter continued, watching Leia intently.

“That’s enough!” Hethir growled but he was ignored by both parties.

“What!?” Leia asked, looking up at the reporter in surprise. She had never heard any of this.

“So are you confirming that you are aware of the resemblance or are you acknowledging -”

“I said that’s enough!” Hethir shouted. The familiar sound of a lightsaber hissing told Leia that he had ignited his blade. Panicked screams instantly erupted before it was eclipsed by a high pitched squeal of pain. Several oblivious stormtroopers immediately pulled out their blasters and aimed it at Hethir. Because his status as an agent in Vader’s arsenal was a secret, Leia could well imagine that the guards and stormtroopers thought he was a simple private security task force that was taking violent liberties with a weapon.

“Drop the weapon and put your hands in the air!” Someone shouted but the Firrerreo ignored them. Leia caught the glimpse of Hethir’s red blade and then the twi’lek’s blue head lying at his feet before the dark side adept turned around and took a hold of her arm.

“I didn’t know it was a secret,” Leia whispered, feeling terribly guilty and confused. There had been that fake funeral of hers that had been arranged years ago, but other than that Vader had never spoken of what the established story should have been. She spent so much of her time on Mustafar, that the chance of exposure was unthinkable. Apparently it was different on Coruscant; and of course her father was currently off planet so she couldn’t even ask him what the protocol was. Shuddering, Leia looked up at the Firrerreo. He was always frowning...

No, in a situation like this she had to get stuck with Hethir.

He was angry and his grip hurt but thankfully he said nothing as he shuffled Leia into the Imperial Palace. Around them, Royal guards and stormtroopers came pouring out the doors and lifts. People scrambled around in confusion as security tried to obtain order through the chaos while royal guards searched for the responsible party.

Leia was thrown unceremoniously into a maintenance closet.

“Stay here,” Hethir growled without sparing her a glance before he shut the door.

“I didn’t know it was a secret!” Leia repeated, this time much louder. Instinctively, Leia reached for the door’s keypad and jerked back in mild surprise when it opened. It seemed in his haste, Hathir had forgotten to lock it.

Leia scanned the palace lobby. Large numbers of people were being organized into groups as stormtroopers did their best to establish some semblance of peace and order. A group of palace aids, all dressed in matching uniforms passed by Leia and broke her daze. Glancing around, Leia tried to figure out where she should go, when a hand took a hold of her arm and gave a tug.

“Princess Leia?’ a young, quiet voice asked. Yelping in surprise, Leia instinctively took a hold of the hand on her arm and twisted it before bracing her feet and gathering her strength. The newcomer squeaked in surprise when Leia forced the person up into the air before slamming them down in front of her.

The squeak turned into a wheeze.  

Peering down, Leia stared  into the hite eyes of a girl her age. She was pretty, with silvery white long hair framing her pail skin and dressed in some sort of gown that looked distinctively Alderaanian. Hesitating a moment, Leia offered the girl her hand.

“Winter? Winter Retrac?’ she asked in uncertainty, vaguely recalling the young girl that had come to visit and play with Leia in the summer on Alderaan. The girl took a hold of Leia’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. Once she was standing, she beamed at Leia, causing the brunette to flinch.

“Princess Leia! It is you! I can’t believe it!”  she exclaimed. Leia was instantly drenched in a new wave of fear. Hurriedly, she clamped her hand over Winter’s mouth and pushed her into a small alcove.

“Shhh! No one can no,” she quickly explained. Winter made a sound of confused protest and Leia sighed before removing her hand.

"How did you know who I was? Have you been following me?" Leia demanded. If this girl had been following her...

"What? No! I wasn't following you. I just saw you leave the maintenance closet, I swear!" Winter promised. Leia studied the girl for a moment before she sighed and relaxed. he was sure winter was telling the truth.

"No one can know right now. Do you understand?" Leia told her seriously. Solemnly, Winter nodded.

“What are you doing here? Everyone thinks you died,” Winter told her in a hushed voice s two security droids flew passed them.

“It's a long story," Leia told her. She couldn’t have been more than three or four when Winter had come to see her in Alderaan’s palace. They had had lots of adventures in the royal gardens while their parents had held official meetings inside the dining halls. The memories were vague now but Leia did remember that the girl was nice and that they had been friends. If she wanted to keep Winter safe, then Leia should just walk away. The more that the white haired girl knew about Leia, the more potential danger she would be put in. However, the concept of having an actual friend was very tempting. Other than Threepio and Artoo, Leia didn’t have anyone else to interact with, beside her father’s agents and they definitely didn’t count.

“... lets just say after the kidnapping seven years ago, the Empire took me in,” Leia tried to explain and smiled vaguely at how unrealistic that sounded. Winter frowned, not seeming to understand.

“You are a ward of the empire?” she asked, trying to clarify. Leia winced.

“Something like that.” Winter didn’t seem satisfied and tried to press for more but Leia quickly interrupted her.

“So what are you doing here on Coruscant?”

Though it was clear from the white haired girl’s expression that she knew Leia was changing the subject, she answered her pleasantly enough.

“I am a personal aide to Alderaan’s Crown Prince Raal of House Panteer. He’s visiting the system with interest in joining the Youth Legislative Program” Winter explained but the other girl was no longer paying attention. Leia had mentally jerked at the surprising news that there was a new sovereignty over Alderaan, though in retrospect it would make sense. With Bail and Breha’s passing, House Organa would ceased to exist. Closing her eyes at the knowledge, Leia swallowed thickly and forced the sudden pain and longing down.

“Princess, are you alright?” Winter asked, concerned.

“Please call me Leia,” the brunette asked miserably. Winter nodded slowly, and Leia could sense her companion’s confusion at the change in her demeanor. On that note, Leia became aware of another presence that was quickly approaching.

‘Father?’ Leia mentally asked and was rewarded with a brief acknowledgment of the cold, heavy pressure that was Vader’s presence. Stepping away in agitation, Leia turned to look at the lobby main entrance. She couldn’t seem him yet, but he was incredibly close.

“I gotta go,” Leia distractedly exclaimed before moving with the intent of cutting her father’s path off. The last thing she needed was for Vader to discover her here with another Alderaanian. In light of the idea that her identity as a former princess of Alderaan was supposed to be a secret, the ten year old didn’t want to think about what would happen if her father or worse, Hethir knew that Winter had recognized her.

“Please wait!” Winter called out. Leia impatiently shifted from foot to foot before turning back to the white haired girl. Winter surprised Leia by giving her a quick hug and pressing a comlink frequency into her hand.

“This is for my personal channel. Maybe we can see eachother again,” the white haired girl offered hopefully. Leia found herself nodding.

“Alright… it was good seeing you Winter.”

“You too Princess - I mean Leia. I’m glad you’re alive,” the other girl offered shyly. Leia nodded once before her father’s presence could no longer be ignored. A group of security droids and stormtroopers accosted the ten year old right before she could run through the lobby doors, but once her father made his presence known, they quickly cleared out.

“Father?” Leia asked in disbelief.

“Not here,” he cut her off before gesturing for Leia to follow him. Wide eyed and uncomfortable, Leia bit back her questions and followed her father through the lobby and then into a private section of the palace. Discretely she glanced from side to side, wondering if anyone was watching them but there was no sign of any life in the seemingly hidden part of the palace.

“Where are we going?” Leia asked hesitantly and allowed her father to guide her through another set of doors. On the other side she was surprised to find that they had entered a small hangar bay.

“We are going back to the apartments,” Vader told her in a restrained voice before heading off at a fast pace to what looked like a customized designed speeder. The ten year old could barely keep up with his large steps.

“Is all of this yours?” Leia asked, distracted by all of the interesting vehicle specs around her.

“Get in,” Vader told her angrily. Leia rolled her eyes and obeyed only to flush when she realized her father had caught her little slip of expressional defiance. An awkward silence followed as Vader started the craft before guiding it to the hangar bay’s exit and merging with the flow of Coruscant traffic.

“I’m surprised you came back so quickly. I thought you had an assignment,” Leia started, still trying to catch her mental bearings after everything that had occured first with the reporter and then Winter and now with her father’s sudden appearance. He wasn’t supposed to return for another two weeks.

“Something of more immediate concern prompted my swift return,” Vader told her in a sour tone and handed her a data pad with a live feed broadcast in front of the Imperial Palace.  Smoke was billowing from the steps and several security guards were in place, creating a barrier around a large crowd that had formed around the chaos. A human female reporter stood in front of the scene with a microphone in her hand.

‘Still no word from the palace, but initial sightings place a humanoid that may or may not be a Jedi at the center of this attack. Eye witnesses say that person in question accosted an independent reporter but at this time we cannot determine the nature of his interest or the third party that may have been involved…” Leia shut off the data pad and looked down at her lap, remembering the twi’lek.

“The reporter… somehow he knew about Alderaan and me... I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to be a secret,” she murmured, giving her father an opening to explain why it was so important that her identity as Alderaan’s former princess was to be kept secret.

“The media will not bother you again, my child,” was all Vader said and while Leia appreciated the promise, she couldn’t help but note how her father had sidestepped the question entirely.

“I thought you said I’m still a princess? It’s the same name I’ve always had - ‘Princess Leia’. Sooner or later more people are going to make the connection. Are you going to kill everyone who figures it out?” she pressed. Vader squeezed the speeder’s steering frame tightly as they landed on their private landing pad.

“You are not to blame,” her father told her firmly just before Leia gave up any hope of getting an answer out of him, and exited the speeder.

“You are my daughter and one of the imperial elites. Your position has been bought and paid for. To have others question it, is treason,” her father told her firmly. Leia stared at her father’s mask for a moment longer, as she tried to understand his reasoning. It really wasn’t an answer.

“My position as a Princess of Alderaan was bought and paid for as well. It’s not something that should be kept hidden like a shameful secret. The Organas were good people,” she challenged after a moment and felt her father’s mood dip again at the mention of her adoptive parents. It didn’t matter if they were rebels or not, she mentally decided. They had loved her and Leia was itching for a chance to fight and defend them. Thankfully Vader had enough sense to let the temptation to insult them, pass.

A moment later, Threepio in all of his wonderful timing interrupted them.

“Lord Vader, Princess Leia what good timing! The emperor has commanded that you two contact him,” the protocol droid hurriedly explained in a nervous voice. Alarmed, Leia turned sharply to her father. Though she had met with him a handful of times, he had never required her to participate in holocall before.

“Then we will not keep him waiting,” Vader rumbled and gestured for Leia to take the lead as they headed towards the holocom.

“Remember to kneel at all times,” Vader told her quietly as they entered the large room.

“I know.”

“Address him as ‘master’ and do not speak unless spoken to.”

“I know Father,” Leia insisted. In unison they both knelt while Vader activated the call. A moment later a large image of Emperor Palpatine flooded the room.

“What is thy bidding my Master?” Vader intoned. Leia kept her eyes lowered but she was itching to look up at look at the projection of the Emperor. She briefly wondered if the old man would keep them waiting as he sometimes made Leia do when she waited for him in the palace lobby before their meetings, but it seemed this time he was was impatient.

Instead of answering directly, the Emperor displayed several different media stations. All intoning to the attack on the palace. Several sources had correctly identified Leia’s face and were making wild speculations about her, the resemblance to the the Alderaanian Princess of Alderaan and the speculation of the appearance of a Jedi with a laser sword and and ties they both might have to the Rebel Alliance as well as sightings of her inside the Imperial Palace as well as in the company of Lord Vader.

“Only an enemy with intimate knowledge of the past would be bold enough to expose such secrets in this manner of hearsay. Our enemies gather in our midst, trying to tear at our foundations,” the Emperor told Leia and Vader in a foul, biting voice. Vader bowed his head but Leia’s mind was spinning.

Someone had planned it? Who and for that matter, why? It didn’t make any sense. Leia was a nobody. As far as the galaxy was concerned she was as plain and ordinary as they came.

“The situation will be dealt with my Master, I assure you,” Vader promised. Palpatine however was not satisfied.

“In light of recent events I believe it is time that we present a united front. Something fresh and new to inspire the masses and to stamp out any doubt once and for all,” the Emperor began and though his tone was mild there was something really biting about him that made Leia flinch. She didn’t understand. Apparently, neither did her father.

“Master?”

Palpatine’s smile was full of delight and cruel amusement as his gaze honed in on Leia. She was suddenly very afraid.

“I think it’s time to introduce Her Imperial Highness to the galaxy.”


	6. Sweet Sixteen

“Leia are you sure this is a good idea?” Winter asked in alarm.

“It’s perfect. Finally,” the sixteen year old answered in a breathless voice as she shimmied into the Alderaanian ceremonial gown. Finally, after exhausting weeks of exercise and her tortuous diet, she could at last fit into Breha Organa’s unaltered royal dress. It wasn’t that Leia wasn’t fit, it was just that she had a very different frame than her Mama had. Where Leia had a slim waist and curvier hips, Breha had an athletic build with a small waist that dropped right into her thighs; and where Leia had a small bust and tinier shoulders, her Mama had always been more broaden around her collarbone and arms while her bust was even tinier than Leia’s. 

Still, the sixteen year old couldn’t be happier. It wasn’t the most comfortable of set of clothing, but at least she could fit into it now. For the first time in a long time she felt whole. Regal. Home. She was sure that her Mama would have been proud.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present, thank you Winter,” Leia told her best friend while making eye contact through the mirror. She made a point of ignoring the dark circles under her own eyes and how sharp her cheekbones seemed to be protruding. Winter studied her friend intently before nodding in uncertainty. Leia tried not to squirm.

She hadn’t seen Winter in twelve weeks; not since the last Junior Legislation Branch had adjourned for the season. It was when Winter had given Leia her adoptive mother Breha Organa’s former dress as an early birthday present. 

“It was courtesy of the Royal House of Panteer” her white haired companion assured her and Leia smiled at the idea that her esteemed friend of pristine integrity had actually stolen something from the royal family. So caught up in her amusement that Leia failed to notice Winte’s anxious look that she shot her.

“Are you sure you won’t get in trouble? What about your father?”

“He’s off planet,”

“On your birthday?” Winter asked, aghast. Leia waved her off.

“He’s returning at the end of the week. We’re going to celebrate it then.”

Winter however wouldn’t relent.

“What about your security team. Won’t HE be looking for you?”

Smirking, Leia went to turn around only for a dizzy spell to hit her. Closing her eyes, the brunette caught the edge of the mirror while Winter rushed to help her friend.

“Leia are you-”

“It’s fine,” the princess gritted out and hurriedly righted herself. 

“You don’t look fine. When was the last time you ate?” Winter demanded.

“Don’t worry about HIM” Leia insisted, purposely speaking over Winter’s questioning. The white haired girl would have pursued her line of thought but the intensity in her friend’s eyes made her pause.

“A couple old friends of his are in town,” Leia added, thinking of the large some of money she had transferred to their account in order to bribe said party to visit the planet. She wanted to be amused by the thought of what Lando Calrissian and Bria Tharen would do when they were given Imperial Access codes to Coruscant’s largest impounding shipyard; but it was overshadowed by an ugly feeling that was quickly worming its way into Leia’s stomach as she thought of the flaming red and gold haired woman with blue green eyes and a flawless complexion smirking at her with a blaster hanging from her hip.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Winter asked her friend suspiciously after studying the princess's face closely. Jerking her head away, Leia snorted.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” she demanded in irritation and then closed her eyes again as another dizzy spell hit her. Winter noticed it immediately. Without a word, she reached out and steadied her friend. 

“We don’t have to go,” she told the princess quietly. Hearing her words, Leia jerked her arm out of her friend’s grasp and hurried to the door.

“Of course we do. We’ve only been planning this meeting for seventh months!” she shouted. A clang from the door reminded both girls that Threepio and Artoo were still locked in the closet.

“That won’t hold them for long,” Leia insisted before turning to the door. Both girls took a moment to turn on their radio wave belts. It was a special device that had been designed to temporarily scramble audio and visual waves that could be detected by electronic devices up to .4 kilometers surrounding their person. The plan of their trip depended on secrecy and while no one intended to get caught, the extra precaution was important. Treason was punishable by death.

“Lets go. The rendezvous is in less that fifteen standard minutes,” Leia told her friend. Winter was left with no choice but to follow. 

Though there were many stormtroopers and security personal in Darth Vader’s fortress, none of them stopped the two girls as they raced through the large, black and grey structure that served as a palace. Leia was used to the abysmal walls with it’s intimidating structure and lack of furnishings - her father did not like anything lavishing or extravagant - but she could see from Winter’s reaction that it was all very new to her. Leia’s memories of Alderaan’s Royal Palace had dimmed considerably but she still remembered how beautiful and elegant it had been compared to Imperial standards.

“This way,” Leia told Winter as the white haired girl started to head towards the landing bay.  

“We’re not using the main entrance?”

Leia only shook her head and opened what looked like a maintenance closet. However on the other side of the door was a set of stairs. 

“We’re going to the roof. I have a special speeder waiting for us,” Leia told her friend with a wicked smile. Winter hesitantly smiled back but there was concern in her eyes. 

The brunette soon realized why once they were climbing the long set of stairs. Sweating and with a pinched cramp in her side, Leia had underestimated how heavy the dress was on her. Winter didn’t say anything more, but Leia could feel the concern emitting off of her friend in waves. Worse, Leia’s head was starting to hurt. Though she would never admit it, she was starting to lose her vision and her stomach felt incredibly hollow.

“You don’t have to wear that dress,” Winter told her quietly when Leia slowed her steps and placed a hand on the wall to brace herself. At the white haired girl’s words, Leia felt her anger rouse. Calling on it as she had been taught, the brunette felt energy quickly encompassing her legs.

“Yes I do!” Leia told her through gritted teeth and with new energy forced herself to continue at a brisker pace up the stairs. Behind her, Winter sighed in exasperation but promptly kept up with Leia’s new speed.

“The recruiters aren’t going to care what you are wearing,” Winter pointed out. Leia sneered.

“No? Well what about Alderaan?” she demanded hotly back before turning her burning eyes on Winter. Thank the Force, the stairway was poorly lit or Winter would have seen her eyes. Leia knew by now that the more she called on her aggression and anger, the more her brown eyes turned an eerie burnt gold color. Just like the emperor.

“What about the people of Alderaan whose royal family handed over the planet to Imperial Occupation? What about the people whose lives have been torn apart by tariffs, and harassment, economic failure, and curfews? What are the people supposed to do when standing up for what’s right is suddenly a crime. What are my people supposed to do when being Alderaanian means persecution!?” Leia snarled before abruptly falling silent.

Winter was afraid. Leia could sense it. The wrongness of her friend’s feelings were all around her. It coated the atmosphere like a thick blanket and it made Leia feel incredibly guilty. Her friend was afraid of her. Feeling her energy drain, Leia slumped against the wall.

“The dress means hope. Once I join the Rebellion everyone will see. They’ll see that the Royal Family of House Organa hasn’t forgotten it’s people,” Leia finished quietly. Winter was quiet for a time as her fear subsided. When she finally spoke her words were very soft but sad.

“Sacrifice without meaning is worthless. The Alliance doesn’t want a martyr; they want abled peoples and bright minds and pure hearts… I wouldn’t have gotten you that dress if I knew you were going to hurt yourself to wear it. You’ve lost so much weight.” The dress was meant to be a momento. Of course Leia just had to take it to the next level, like she did everything else.

“You aren’t just Alderaan's princess; you’re the Imperial Princess too. Have you even thought about what your defection would do to your father? ” Winter asked pointedly. Leia blinked.

“We already talked about this. As third in line to the throne, the empire would lose moral, factions would form -” 

“-Leia,” Winter interrupted and though her voice was soft it had a sharpness to it that the brunette couldn’t ignore.

“You never said what you planned to do about your father.”

Leia wanted to respond but it was suddenly too exhausting to form words. She ached everywhere. With her strong connection to the force wavering, she felt like paper. Flimsy and hollow and helpless. Blearily she blinked up at the winding staircase. They still had a long way to go, but Leia was suddenly incredibly tired.

‘Leia!’ her father’s mental call rang out once.

“The rendezvous,” she murmured before the world went incredibly dark…

Leia woke to the familiar sight of her bedroom ceiling. There was an oxygen mask covering her face and she was wearing a medical gown. The dress was nowhere to be seen. A series of angry chirps and whistles informed Leia that Artoo had freed himself from the closet. Currently the little astro droid was repeatedly wheeling himself into Leia’s bed in an angry manner and the princess didn’t need to know binary to know that the droid felt betrayed.

“Hey,” Leia whispered and tried to put her hand on the droid’s blue dome but Artoo was moving too quickly and her first attempt slipped.

“Hey I’m sorry!” Leia insisted and when it looked like Artoo was going to shake her off again Leia slipped to the edge of her bed and tried to stand only for her left arm to snare on something. Looking over, she was startled to find it hooked up to an IV. It was a sobering sight.

“Guess I messed up this time didn’t I?” Leia asked quietly to herself as she slipped off the oxygen mask, finding it unnecessary. Artoo whistled sadly and when he scooted closer Leia smiled and was allowed to reach him this time.

“I’m sorry Artoo. I wanted to keep you out of trouble in case we were found. That way you couldn’t be incriminated,” she explained. Artoo hooted and his dome twisted. From what Leia could gather he was offended that she thought he couldn’t keep a secret and that he promised to forgive her if she promised not to lock him in anymore closets.

‘“It’s a deal,” she smiled.

A moment later Leia’s comlink blinked from her bedside table. Winter must have retrieved it... Reaching over, Leia activated it only to see the visual screen pop up. In it was Lando’s cheesy smile and Bria’s familiar smirk. 

“Look who's finally awake,” Bria greeted. 

“I take it you weren’t detected during your escapades,” Leia responded, not missing a beat. 

“We left those Imperial thugs in the dust. Thanks for the codes by the way,” Lando added and then winked.

“You found something to your liking?” Leia asked politely trying to imagine what impounded ship they had stolen.

“Several somethings actually-” Lando began only for Bria to smack him upside the head.

“She doesn’t need to know everything.” Leia watched in amusement as Lando rubbed his head before snatching his red cloak which was lying just outside the viewport.

“Right. Anyway, I’ll see you around princess,” Lando bowed before ducking out of the call. Bria watched him go with a roll of her eyes before turning her serious gaze back to Leia.

“This makes us even for Ylesia,” she stated. Leia blinked in surprise. She had hardly done anything besides getting kidnapped. Threepio was the one who had informed her father and he was the one that had the slave cartel exposed. Well that and...

“There won’t be anymore favors. I don’t care how much money or ships you bribe us with, don’t call on us again,” the Corellian continued and with a wave of her hand brushed her golden hair off of her shoulders. Leia tried not to feel envious. Why couldn’t she be pretty like that?

Bria looked like she was about to cut the call before she paused and smirked.

“Oh and if you’re looking for your security personal, you’ll find him in the detention facility in the southern quadrant, tenth level down. Better hurry. He’s going to get ripe waiting down there.” Leia gaped, unable to determine if she should be surprised and amazed that HE had ended up getting arrested ten levels below the surface or if she should laugh from the irony of it. Before she could ask any questions, however, Tharen cut the call.

Not a moment later, Threepio entered the room followed closely on the heels of her father, who Leia noted immediately felt off. The harsh vortex of anger and violence was nothing new but he was also giving off a strange emotion that she had never felt from him before.

“Princess Leia, you are awake! How wonderful! The medical droid has given us specific instruction when we were entrusted with your care. You’ve been in a medically induced coma for nearly five days…”

Five days! Leia could hardly believe it.

“-We were beside ourselves when Mistress Winter brought you back. She sends her regrets but she was summoned home. She has however asked us to send an update once you awoke.” Sensing her father’s impatience, Leia hurriedly cut off the droid.

“Thank you Threepio. I hope you don’t mind but I’m feeling rather famished. Can you bring up some tea and flat cakes for me?” she asked. The golden droid twitched for a moment before turning towards the door.

“Of course your Highness. I would be happy to help. Come along Artoo.” The protocol droid’s chipper mood made Leia feel guilty about her prior treatment to the droid.

“Oh and Threepio,” the sixteen year old called out. The droid in question paused and looked back.

“Yes your Highness?”

“I’m sorry I locked you in the closet. I was just trying to protect you but I know now that it was wrong,” she explained. Threepio listened for a moment before stepping closer once more only to have Vader slide the door shut in his face.

“Father! I wasn’t done speaking to him!” Leia scolded. Her father however was not one to entertain theatrics. Leia paused when she sensed his mood. It had been a long time since she felt such dark emotions from him.

“Malnourishment. Dehydration. Anemia. What did you think you were doing?” he demanded and his tone was very dark. Leia felt her heart speed up wondering how he had found out about the plan to rendezvous with the rebels. Was it Winter? No, she was too loyal and discreet. Was it Artoo? More importantly how many people had died? Her father wouldn’t come here like this if he had found out. Was the rebel cell on Coruscant still safe? How many people had been exposed. For a second, Leia’s heart raced at the thought that her father had found her  radar scrambler but then she remembered that Winter would never have left any incriminating evidence.

“I spoke to Jade about your recent ‘mission’ involving your relocation of the Caamas Document. Interesting destination, considering the empire has no current designs for the Nirauan System. If Jade had so chosen and exposed you to the emperor, the punishment for treason is death! Your station as the Imperial heir would not have protected you!” Vader shouted and pointed a finger at Leia to emphasize his anger.

On instinct, Leia felt her hackles rise but her lack of strength made it impossible to shout back and defend her actions. No matter that she had been caught and her lie exposed. In the end, she was resigned to lie back and pull her bedding closer to her, all the while warily watching her father who was towering over her and broadcasting a terrible range of emotions and power.

“Starving yourself. Lying. Sneaking off - do you want to die?!” Vader roared and Leia shook her head as she tried to gather her mental thoughts. Her father’s impossible anger hurt though as it pressed down and suffocated her from all sides.

“...so you’re mad that I lied and lost weight?” Leia asked hesitantly. She flinched hard when all of the mirrors and viewports in her room shattered under the pressure of her father’s powerful anger.

“Mad? You think I’m mad that you ‘lied and lost weight!?’” Vader put as much distaste into the words as he could before slamming one of his fists into the durasteel wall beside him. The metal groaned before giving way to his strength, twisting and caving in to form a small crater. Leia tried hard not to cringe.

“You have starved yourself to the point of organ failure and you committed the highest form of treason by falsifying your wearabouts to the emperor,” her father all but snarled at her. His fists tightened so much that the leather from the gloves could be heard as they twisted to accommodate the tightness of his grasp. 

“Twelve weeks,” Vader started and for a moment Leia thought he was going to bring up the rebellion that she had tried to seek out.

“What?” she cried but her father didn’t notice her anxiety and alarm.

“According to my agents your behavior altered twelve weeks ago.” It took Leia a moment to understand what he was saying.

“You’ve been spying on me!?” Leia demanded outraged, temporarily forgetting to be afraid of her father potentially learning of her secret desire to defect to the Rebel Alliance.

“Reduced meals, exhausting physical labor. Lying to your caretakers and security, sneaking off,” Vader continued, his voice growing louder.

“How long? How long have you been spying on me!?” Leia demanded yelling louder. The action winded her and once again left her feeling empty and helpless.

“NO MORE!” Vader bellowed and for a moment Leia felt her bed rise off of the floor before it was violently dropped. Instinctively, the princess drew her knees up to her chest. A deafening silence followed.

“Okay,” she whispered after a moment, hating to feel weak in front of him but afraid nonetheless. Vader seemed to sense her fear and after a moment, Leia felt her father’s weary resignation as his anger drained.

“How long have you been spying on me?” Leia asked again, this time using a much softer voice. Vader crossed his arms and the sixteen year old was surprised to sense his indignation.

“You are my daughter. I have had several designated personal installed over the years to watch over you in my absence,” he huffed and Leia was surprised to find a durasteel wall of stubborness keeping her from sensing any other emotion from his end. If she didn’t know any better, she would think he was embarrassed. 

“As the years have progressed the need for so many has diminished. Until yesterday, there was only one active agent remaining and only necessary when you were on the planet,” her father continued, and Leia noted how he abruptly dropped his arms and clenched his fists.

“After the gross error of the agent’s incompetence in failing to inform me of your erratic behavior sooner, he was disposed of.”

Leia closed her eyes, having no delusion as to what ‘disposed of’ meant. Vader had killed him. 

“So this agent followed me around everywhere and kept a log of everything I said and did?” she asked cautiously, hoping that her conversations with Winter involving the Alliance to Restore the Republic hadn’t been heard. 

Her father merely waved her off.

“I respect your privacy Leia. The agent was only meant to report any potential danger to you.”

At those words Leia slumped in relief. She hadn’t been found out. Nobody had been exposed. They were still safe! There was still hope! She could still meet up with the recruiter! She - had missed the rendezvous point! The recruiter had given them a specific time and place to meet. Leia glanced at her chrono and scowled. They had been warned that if they missed it, there would be no other chances...

“Speaking of agents, where is your security?” her father started and his tone took on a dark tone once more. Realizing that she was going to be found out, Leia blurted out,

“I’m sorry!” and then bowed her head. Clutching at the blanket, Leia forced the explanation out. She always buckled under her father’s authority. The man’s idea of moral, hypocrisy in governing, and violent tendencies often put Leia at odds with her father. He always had to be right and she always had to be wrong or so it went their household. She detested showing weakness in front of him; but she knew in this matter that she needed to apologize. Despite their differences, he was family and she knew that he did care. She did too.

“I didn’t plan for this to happen,” the sixteen year old continued and forced herself to meet the mask’s eye sockets. Vader merely placed his hands on his hips in his universal sign of letting her know that he was listening and that her excuse had better be good.

“It all started with a dress.”

“A dress?” Vader demanded. 

“Yes a dress. It was a gift  and I wanted to fit into it by my birthday,” Leia defended. Vader made a noise if disbelief. It sounded incredibly ridiculous when she put it like that.

“So you starved yourself to fit into this dress? Why couldn’t it have been altered? Why did you lie to the emperor?” her father demanded and Leia tried to think of a way to explain the importance of the dress and the wholeness and purity and symbolism behind it. Finally she settled on,

“Because I was trying to do too much and be too many people,” her words were vague but truthful, and with them tears softly flowed down her cheeks. When Leia felt their dampness, she angrily scrubbed them away. Tears made her feel vulnerable and they made her angry. Her father didn’t react any better.

“If this has something to do with that Alderaanian boy Raal Panteer,” he began and made a slash of his hand that could only mean violence when Leia hurriedly corrected him.

“No it had nothing to do with him. We broke up ages ago... It was me. I had to change and do it quickly,” Leia explained and thought of the her failure in joining the Alliance. 

“There is nothing wrong with the way you are Leia. You do not need to be envious of others when you are blessed with many bountiful gifts and knowledge of your own. Use what you already possess. Change comes with growth and experience. It does not come quickly,” her father told her in a tone that broke no argument. Leia nodded absently in agreement.

Perhaps she was going about it the wrong way. If she joined outright as an Imperial Princess, there would be major consequences. Especially for her father. Leia glanced at him and felt a sharp pang shoot through her as she thought about what would happen to him if she left. Winter’s question earlier echoed in her mind.

She hadn’t been thinking about her father when she planned her defection. In fact, she had purposely not thought about him; because the truth was if she left, she knew it would break him. Political backlash and the emperor aside, her leaving would ruin their relationship and his trust in her. The man acted stoic and emotionally impenetrable but Leia knew enough about who her father had been before the emperor and her mother’s death to know that the devastation of her departure would destroy him. He wouldn’t find anything noble or just in her cause, he would see only betrayal and a rejection.

That was what she was feeling from her father. His fear - fear of losing her. 

“You’re right,” Leia conceded. Her mind was racing but that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate Vader’s assurance.

There had to be a better way to go about supporting the Alliance. Alderaan was still there and though it was facing many trials, there were many different ways that she could fight for it that didn’t involve her being a martyr. She knew she would one day have to leave, the empire was evil and she railed against everything it stood for. The Rebels were the key to a prosperous future and Leia felt like it was her destiny to join them; but perhaps it didn’t have to be in the time or place that she planned. Her father was far from perfect and there would be a a day of reckoning, she was sure, but if she planned it right maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as she feared. 

Feeling ridiculously sentimental and foolish in her thoughts, Leia sniffed and ducked her head once more. 

“I learned my lesson, I won’t do it again,” she said softly and waited through several repetitions of Vader’s respirator cycles before he finally responded.

“Good… now tell me more about this dress. Who gave it to you?”


End file.
